A new Open Championship favorite emerges, another green jacket is handed out, and PGA Tour WAGs get very patriotic

Welcome to another edition of The Grind, where we celebrated the Fourth by toasting a third green jacket. That’s right, after six (LONG) years, I finally captured another HGGA Championship (my annual golf trip). This one was the sweetest since it included the clutchest birdie (moment) of my life and for the first time, I got to savor the winner’s walk up the finishing hole. Here I am getting the green jacket from defending champ (and this year’s runner-up) Josh Thomson:

OK, enough about me. Let’s get to everything else, including those bikini photos that probably got you to click on this.

WE'RE BUYING

Kyle Stanley: A former rising star, Stanley fell out of the top 400 in the Official World Golf Ranking less than three years after winning his first PGA Tour title. But less than two years after that, he picked up win No. 2 in a playoff over Charles Howell III at the Quicken Loans National. Then he gave one of the most emotional interviews of the season.

Danielle Kang: The two-time U.S. Women’s Amateur champ finally broke through for her first LPGA win, and she made it a major no less at the KPMG PGA Championship. And how about this intricate handshake with Michelle Wie?

Tommy Fleetwood: With a win at the HNA Open de France, Fleetwood has moved from darkhorse British Open pick to one of the favorites to win the claret jug. And no, this is not just because he grew up near Royal Birkdale. Since the start of 2017, only Dustin Johnson has earned more Official World Golf Ranking points.

WE'RE SELLING

Michael Buttacavoli’s luck: There’s being snake bitten, and there’s whatever this PGA Tour Latinoamerica player is. For the second time in a month, airlines misplaced Buttacavoli’s golf bag ahead of a major qualifier.

This time, Michael got them in time for his round, but didn’t earn a spot into the British Open. What’s even more incredible is that all my group’s golf bags made it to and from Myrtle Beach without a hitch.

David Boote’s close calls: This Welsh amateur had his clubs and played well at both his U.S. and British Open qualifiers. Just not quite well enough. Boote barely missed out on getting into the field at both Erin Hills and Royal Birkdale by losing in a playoff both times. Poor guy.

Weather forecasts:PGA Tour pro Sung Kang got drenched late in the final round of the Quicken Loans National – and lost his chance for a first PGA Tour win -- because he didn’t have any raingear. Bad job by him, although in his defense, Kang said he saw a forecast of ZERO percent rain. Meanwhile, in Myrtle Beach, we faced an 80-percent chance of thunderstorms for five straight days, yet only got rained on for about an hour total. Seriously, what’s the point of even checking the weather?

ON TAP

The PGA Tour heads to West Virginia for the Greenbrier Classic, where the winner also receives a green jacket.

Random tournament fact: The 2016 event was canceled due to heavy flooding so everyone involved is pretty happy that it’s happening at all this year.

Those hooligans who did extensive damage to the Golf Club of Houston were caught and have promised to repay the club for damage done. That's a start. . . . Several European Tour pros are claiming their golf clubs were tampered with at the French Open. If true, we could be on the brink of a widespread cheating scandal. . . . Speaking of rules controversies, Brandel Chamblee reignited the Bernhard Langer anchoring controversy with this strongly worded tweet:

Something tells us we haven’t heard that last about this. . . . Kenny Perry picked up a fourth major title on the PGA Tour Champions at the U.S. Senior Open. There's no controversy with his putting stroke, although he does that annoying plumb bobbing thing. . . . And finally, in addition to the (other) green jacket, I took home the prestigious “Spirit of the Commissioner” Award, completing a historic double:

And in the spirit of everyone getting a trophy, we have decided to have a full awards banquet on next year’s trip that will include categories like “Gutsiest Performance” and “Best Outburst.” We have problems.

Use of and/or registration on any portion of this site constitutes acceptance of our User Agreement (updated 5/25/2018) and Privacy Policy and Cookie Statement Link (updated 5/25/2018). Golf Digest may earn a portion of sales from products that are purchased through our site as part of our Affiliate Partnerships with retailers. Your California Privacy Rights The material on this site may not be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, cached or otherwise used, except with the prior written permission of Condé Nast.